Re: [Safer]-Xitra Hynin-Training.
“For the sake of argument, this will tell you what exactly?”
“Well Xitra, I thought it would be obvious. I want to test how will you think under pressure. Hic.”
“By drinking alcohol?”
“It’s what you do after.” Orysius took another swig from the bottle in his hand.
“You do realize how old I am right, right?”
“I wouldn’t know you never tell me, you should tell people things more often than you do. Ah, fine beverage this is.” Another swig from the bottle, emptying it to the last minuscule drop. Orysius dropped it on the floor of Xitra’s room, almost squishing Din who had just barely flew out of the way and proceeded to shake a fist at Orysius for being so careless.
“Besides,” Orysius said wiping away what he could from his mouth, “It’s not for you, you need to think clearly for my first test.”
“You know, you should tell people things more often than you do. For instance, what is the test that your going to be using on me.” Xitra stood from his chair, already equipped with his hard leather vest and Sheakah swords.
Orysius also stood, calling to Din before walking to the door and opening it.
“Well, you should come and see, shouldn’t you.” Xitra walked forward but was stopped by Orysius’s outstretched hand. “You won’t be needing those.” Orysius gestured toward Xitra’s swords and left the room without him.
***
“Oh my--” Xitra had to put a hand over his mouth before he could let out a squeal. It was books. Many books; Thousands upon thousands of books, neatly stacked in bookshelves that seemed to go on forever, and may well have if his past experiences had anything to say about it. Orysius went to a table with six chairs, took out one and sat on it. When Xitra was able to compose himself he walked over to Orysius.
“Was that it?” Xitra cocked an eyebrow, and looked around the library. In keeping with the coloration of everything else, the shelves were gold, the chairs gold, the tables gold, and only the books themselves had different colors of brown and blue.
“Well, yes and no. I wanted to see how well you like books. The real test is much more difficult.” Orysius pulled out a stop watch, also gold, and started counting down.
“Five, four, three, two, and . . . .” Xitra barely ducked an arrow witch flew straight through were his head had been only a few moments before.
“What the hell was that!?” Xitra grabbed Orysius’s collar only to hear three words.
“Three, two, and. . . .” Xitra barely dodged another arrow that seemed to come from nowhere. The shaft hit one of the shelves with a thunk, then disappeared.
“I’d hurry, you only have ten seconds between shots. Two, and. . . .”
Another shaft barely missed by Xitra, but seemed to go right through Orysius’s head.
“Don’t worry, I’m safe, but if you want the arrows to stop, find the right book.” Orysius stood up and walked away from Xitra . “Duck.”
Another arrow dodged, this time almost piercing the skin.
“Which book is the right one?!” Xitra was crouched under the table now.
“Well, that would be cheating. Farewell Xitra, if only you had your arms, eh?” A thunk on the table and the sound of splintering wood cut out some of what Orysius said, but Xitra could see the extra emphases on farewell and arms Orysius had put when the muscles around his lungs tensed. If only he knew what that meant.